Lydia Diamond Returns To The Huntington With ‘Smart People’

The cast of Lydia Diamond’s “Smart People”, which is making its world premiere with the Huntington Theatre Company. (Courtesy Huntington Theatre Company)

Playwright Lydia Diamond doesn’t shy away from difficult conversations about race in America. In 2010, her racially charged family drama “Stick Fly” premiered at Boston’s Huntington Theatre before going on to Broadway.

Now, Diamond is back at the Huntington with a new play called “Smart People.” It’s set in and around Harvard University, just as the U.S. is about to elect Barack Obama to the presidency. The play follows four characters: a black surgeon, a black actress, an Asian-American psychologist, and a white neuropsychiatrist whose research suggests that we are biologically predisposed to be racist.